Papon trial resumes

The trial has resumed in the French city of Bordeaux of Maurice Papon, the former French government minister being prosecuted for crimes against humanity.

Proceedings were suspended before Christmas after Mr Papon, who's eighty-seven, complained of health problems for the third time since the trial began ten weeks ago.

Mr Papon is charged in connection with the deportation of Jews from the Bordeaux area in 1942 while he was a senior government official there.

A BBC correspondent in Paris says the interruption came just as damning evidence was beginning to build up against Mr Papon, with a picture emerging which flatly contradicts some of his claims that he wasn't involved.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service